Why this AI entrepreneur moved from New York City to Singapore

After growing up in Lahore, graduating from Harvard, working on Wall Street, and completing her PhD at the London School of Economics, the world was Ayesha’s oyster. 

As she was about to return to New York with her two small children, however, her husband Parag had a different idea. 

“He had visited Singapore. He was a very big fan of the environment, the business-friendliness, the meritocracy,” she shares. “And he said, ‘Why don’t we move to Singapore for a little while?’ And that’s how we came here in July 2012.”

Becoming a futurist thought leader

Since her undergraduate days, Ayesha had been gradually building up her expertise in AI, a nascent field at the time. On Wall Street, she was a junior programmer working on quantitative models. For her PhD, she studied how AI could create smarter and more sustainable cities.  

On the basis of these keen interests and insights, she found herself invited to high-level groups discussing and contemplating the future of our world. 

In Singapore, she became a regular contributor to the Opinion pages of The Straits Times. Following a piece where she wrote that the future of education, in the face of disruptive technologies, “has no beginning, middle or end”, she was asked to join the Ministry of Education’s steering committee for what would become SkillsFuture. 

“I’ve always been extremely interested in the changing nature of skills and how to prepare individuals for the fourth industrial revolution,” she says, “and SkillsFuture has been a very successful programme in aligning reskilling and lifelong learning with economic demand.” 

In subsequent years, Ayesha went on to sit on the boards of the Infocomm Media Development Authority – which regulates the country’s Smart Nation initiatives – Sport Singapore, and most recently, the Health Promotion Board.

Between 2019 and 2022, she also served two terms on the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Councils, which comprise global leaders of industry and academia.

“Our group was looking at Media, Entertainment and Sport, and I was called in to advise on how AI might influence these areas,” she says. “AI enables content creators to really grow as an industry, but it also comes with risks such as misinformation. Finding that balance in terms of policy is very important.”

Solving business problems with AI

Easing into life in Singapore, Ayesha found the city conducive to balancing career and family. “As a working mum who’s in tech, I found that this was a great place for me and my family,” she says. “And soon after moving here, I was lucky to become a Singaporean citizen.” 

Industry-wise, she discovered a vibrant community of founders and practitioners, as well as ample state support in terms of subsidies and regulations. 

“This creates a petri dish in which anyone who is interested in future technologies and wants to build something global can really thrive,” she notes. “And that’s what happened to me. I was able to build my company, find people to work with, all the while making sure that my kids were in a safe environment with good education.”

In 2017, Ayesha co-founded Addo AI, an advisory firm that offers AI solutions to help companies solve business problems and become more competitive. These range from enabling healthcare providers to predict patient susceptibility to chronic disease, thereby improving clinical outcomes, to boosting operational efficiency at logistics firms through route optimisation, taking into account real-time and seasonal traffic data. 

Given that this was several years before AI fever struck globally, getting clients on board was initially an uphill battle. 

“At that time, people thought that AI was just theoretical magic. We really struggled to convince people to run pilots, to focus on the quality and diversity of data to get better AI models,” she recalls. “Now, it’s very different. Now, people come to us, and they want us to build intelligent AI-powered systems, and to do it at scale.”

AI is not something to be intimidated by

Aside from running Addo, Ayesha is also a sought-after keynote speaker who has been engaged by some of the world’s largest companies and institutions. 

“The one message I always try to put across is we need to embrace the fact that we are entering a human-machine hybrid economy. And that means that some of our tasks will be done by or assisted by machines,” she stresses. “AI is not a fad. And it’s not something to be intimidated by. We need to think about how we can use it to propel our companies, our governments and our own careers forward.”

An avid user of AI productivity apps herself – her favourites include Perplexity, Canva and ChatGPT – Ayesha often encourages others, particularly women, not to shy away from tools or roles related to the technology. 

Generally, she says, there are two pathways to enter the sector. “If you’re a business person, you have to understand the applications of AI and the product lifecycle.” She recommends such individuals to subscribe to newsletters like Ben’s Bites or Superhuman AI, set up Google alerts on domains and companies they’re interested in, and to sign up for courses. 

“There are plenty of opportunities to learn,” she says. “Many university courses in Singapore are covered by SkillsFuture funding. I myself am launching an AI strategy course and a generative AI course for business executives.” 

For technologists, she suggests reading technical newsletters like The Gradient, attending AI conferences, and looking up data science courses via Coursera and edX, in addition to SkillsFuture and AI Singapore.

Connecting with the world around them

For Ayesha’s husband Parag, the rise of his career has been no less stellar. “He was always a believer in the rise of Asia,” she says. “He believed that Singapore was the gateway to Asia, and that a lot of great thought leadership would come from Singapore.” 

Today, the TED speaker and bestselling author is also the founder of Climate Alpha, an AI platform that predicts the impact of climate change on real estate investments. 

As they put down roots in Singapore, Ayesha and Parag ensure that the family stays connected with the wider community and with family around the world.

“I love how Singapore has a very family-oriented Asian culture, and how Singaporeans are committed to community,” Ayesha says. In Joo Chiat, where they live, she enjoys being able to chat with neighbours and stall owners at the coffeeshop, and she has volunteered with the Singapore Police Force’s Citizens on Patrol.

Thanks to Changi Airport’s connectivity, it’s easy to visit or be visited by relatives, whether it’s her father in Pakistan or her in-laws in California. 

“And like any other South Asian family, I have like 100 cousins all over the world, who are always passing through Singapore,” she adds. “So, it’s been very easy to remain connected to everyone, not only virtually but in person as well.”

This article was originally posted by Singapore Global Network.